'Jurassic Park 4' Is Suddenly A Top Priority

Universal Pictures is fast-tracking Jurassic Park 4, presumably because a friend of Steven Spielberg’s just woke from an 11-year coma and shouted: “What happens next?!?!” But massive gaps in time and reasoning aside, the producers are in a hurry to get this sucker moving, so they’re rolling the dice with a hot pair of writers, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.

And fellas, if your wives are constantly nagging you to do more as a couple, don’t let them read this next part:

The studio tapped husband and wife team Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver — who are fresh off the box-office hit “Rise of the Planet the Apes” — to write the script, Deadline.com reported.

Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall are set to produce the fourth installment of the dinosaur adventure franchise based on Michael Crichton’s best-selling novel. Spielberg, however, won’t direct, with the sci-fi tent-pole “Robopocalypse” already on his plate.

Jaffa and Silver are currently at work on the sequel to their “Planet of the Apes” prequel for Fox, tentatively titled “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.” (Via NY Daily News)

Spielberg and Co. are reuniting the original gang for 4assic Park (or Jurassic 4k), with Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, and Richard Attenborough starring, but it will be Joe Johnston wearing the director’s pants on this installment.

Johnston, who bailed on Captain America 2, is also working on Not Safe for Work, which is a thriller about a man who gets locked inside his office building with a killer. Proving once again that in this economy you don’t quit your job no matter how bad it sucks.

“Spielberg and Co. are reuniting the original gang for 4assic Park (or Jurassic 4k), with Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, and Richard Attenborough starring, but it will be Joe Johnston wearing the director’s pants on this installment.”

is there like a joke or something that i’m missing here? because, i’ve never heard this particular detail before and Richard Attenborough is gravely ill and has said awhile back that he’s not making any more films. just kind of seems pulled out of your ass…

Too bad this JP rehash has caused my new story, Dinosaur Wars, to wash up in its bid to be the next (and better) Jurassic Park. Without naming names, my book was optioned to a major Hollywood production company with a Best Picture Oscar in its past, but the director in charge of the project said to me that first day on the phone, “If Spielberg makes another JP, then this film will not get financed.” I guess I’ll just keep writing more stories and try to outlast Spielberg’s interest in his old used-to-be. C’mon Steve, get a dinosaur story with some real heroes in it–like mine.